


Stunniful...

by writergenie



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Awkward Romance, Ben Solo Needs A Hug, Ben Solo is a Mess, Ben Solo is an awkward turtle, Dress shopping, F/M, Fundraiser gala, Gingerrose - Freeform, Idiots in Love, Meet-Cute, Rey Needs A Hug, Rey and Rose are besties, Reylo - Freeform, Senator Leia Organa, Sneaky mom sets up her idiot son, Sort Of, feelings at first sight, gala - Freeform, love in a trial room
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-18
Updated: 2020-02-18
Packaged: 2021-02-28 02:13:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,998
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22786204
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/writergenie/pseuds/writergenie
Summary: Ben Solo shouldn't be spending his day off sitting on a tiny pink couch waiting for his mom to emerge from the trial room she's ensconced herself in at this nondescript boutique. But he is... because Senator Leia Organa-Solo's guilting skills are legendary.But he's about to be a whole lot more thankful in a little while, when a golden skinned goddess asks him to help with her dress.Awkward flirting ensues, misunderstandings happen, feelings sprout at first sight, there's a fundraiser gala and oh... there's a beautiful green dress.
Relationships: Armitage Hux/Rose Tico, Leia Organa & Ben Solo, Leia Organa/Han Solo, Rey & Rose Tico, Rey/Ben Solo, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 16
Kudos: 148





	Stunniful...

**Author's Note:**

  * For [BensCalligraphySet](https://archiveofourown.org/users/BensCalligraphySet/gifts).



> This is not based on a prompt but on the amazing tags on a tumblr post by the lovely Francesca (@galacticidiots on Tumblr and BensCalligraphySet on ao3).
> 
> Fran, you're a treasure and a godsend to the Reylo fandom. Thank you for your amazing ideas and the frankly glorious tags on stuff you reblog.

This one-shot which grew so much bigger than I'd anticipated was all because of this set of tags on a post, by Fran ([@galacticidiots](https://galacticidiots.tumblr.com/))

_#this is the AU where leia drags ben with her when she goes dress shopping for some event_

_#and as he’s waiting for her to come out of the dressing room_

_#a complete stranger — rey — pops out from behind another curtain and asks him if he can zip her up_

_#and so what if his hands shake a little as he brushes her hair aside?_

_#what if he’s sweating by the time he manages to fasten the zip all the way up to her nape?_

_#what if he stutters when she asks him how she looks? (incredible)_

_#you can hardly blame him_

_#— she ends up asking him to be his date for whatever event she’s buying the dress for_

_#(his mother is listening to everything from her changing room; she spends the entire ride home talking about gra_ _ndkids)_

_#adam driver #au_

Thank you Fran, for being an excellent source of inspiration! This one's for you <3

p.s. I'm new on ao3 and have no idea how to attach a whole tumblr post hence the tags only. I'd be eternally grateful if someone could explain in the comments or message me.

* * *

Benjamin Organa-Solo knew it. This was The Bad Place.

Of course he didn’t expect to go to heaven, he hadn’t exactly been what could be classified as a ‘good person’. But this was a bit much.

Everywhere he turned, all he could see were shiny, sparkly things that passed for dresses… racks and racks of them. And here he was, sitting on a tiny pink couch in the middle of the boutique, sticking out like a black-clad sore thumb. The half a dozen women of various ages that were pretending to browse the racks while actually mentally stripping him, felt like a pack of wolves ready to jump him at the slightest chance.

_Would they still see him if he remained stock still and pretended to not exist? Or did that only apply to dinosaurs?_

Ben’s hands dwarfed the sleek new phone in them as he fidgeted with it, his feet tapping a fast tattoo on the plush area rug, his entire body wound tighter and tighter as every moment passed. He mentally cursed the moment of weakness that had led to him agreeing to accompany his mother for a shopping spree, after she’d guilted him for not calling the past couple of weeks or coming by for even longer.

Leia Organa-Solo was a virtuoso at the art of getting her own way. The entire Republican Party hadn’t been able to stop the Democratic Senator of California from getting her way for years and Ben was after all, her only child. To this day, the diminutive Senator pulled the ‘I let them cut my body open to deliver you into this world’ shtick on her 28 year old giant of a son, and to this day, it worked on the man who otherwise spent his time putting away hardened criminals as the Assistant DA for the state.

Which was why he found himself perched uncomfortably on the edge of an outrageously pink tufted monstrosity, his mother’s deceptively heavy purse at his side, waiting for said mother to finish trying on the armload of dresses she’d taken into the trial area with her.

It was a rare day off for both mother and son and they’d decided to have a nice brunch together before the trip had devolved into an unusual shopping spree, after Leia had spotted a dress in the window of a small boutique near their restaurant. Leia Organa-Solo was a woman of very particular tastes and her wardrobe was almost always made exclusively for her by her friend and famous atelier, Amilyn Holdo. But here they were, Ben being stared at by the young ladies at the counter while his mother played dress up.

But before he could delve deeper into his self-pity party, the fabric screen of the trial area next to the one Leia was in, swept aside and Ben looked up from his phone’s dark screen to be suddenly faced with an expanse of honey gold skin. A slim arm reached out and an equally honeyed voice spoke… but he was too busy cataloging the way her skin and luscious chestnut waves shone in the overhead lighting of the shop to realize what the goddess was saying.

Because that was what she was… a goddess. Ben didn’t even need to see her face to know it.

Belatedly, he realized that the young woman seemed to be calling for someone named Rose.

“Um… I’m sorry but there’s no one else here. I think your friend might be out in the store”

At his voice, the lady startled a bit before glancing back at him for a second. Even just in profile, her features were exquisite. Wide hazel eyes under arched eyebrows, a pert nose and plump, bowed lips completed the heart shaped face, leaving Ben feeling vindicated in his assumption that she was in fact a goddess.

Said plump lip was now caught between white teeth as the young lady contemplated something for a second before shrugging

“Uh… I know it’s a bit much to ask… but, could you um… if you don’t mind, could you zip me up?”

To which, Ben’s eloquent reply was a truly expressive

“Huh?”

Shaking his head as if it would kick start his fogged up brain that had screeched to a halt at the words ‘zip me up’, Ben hurriedly stood up as the young woman started fidgeting in embarrassment, noticing for the first time that the golden skin of her back was bracketed by shiny dark green fabric. She was holding a dress to her body, the zipper at the back of it undone, exposing the upper half of her back and pooling in a mass of floaty green fabric at her feet.

“Um… yeah. Just… gimme a second”

Neither of them said a word when it took Ben barely three strides of his ridiculously long legs to get to her but moving her hair to the side and pulling up a foot of zipper took him more than a minute. Ben held his breath when his knuckles accidentally grazed her silky, warm skin and the young lady’s breath hitched audibly.

Ben stepped away once the zipper was done and the young lady turned to look at him properly for the first time… and he had to glance away to hide the red creeping up on his cheekbones and ears because if he thought that she was gorgeous before, with pink tinting her own cheeks and a shy smile lighting up her face, this young woman in front of him was almost unreal in her beauty.

“Thank you.”

And for the first time, Ben registered the soft English accent in her melodious voice and that was it. If he’d been halfway to imagining them together earlier, now Ben knew he needed to gather the courage to at least ask this young lady out.

“Oh… it’s alright. Wasn’t any trouble… no trouble at all”

He stumbled and spouted what was probably garbage while his brain tried to play catch up. His words must’ve made some sense because her shy smile returned and was bigger this time, but for the life of him, Ben couldn’t have told you what he’d said

“Well? Do I look okay?”

She moved from side to side a bit and gave a twirl to show off the dress and looked up at him with an expectant expression. As the question registered, Ben’s eyes belatedly glanced down from her enchanting face, to see… perfection. Her slim, lithe figure was clad in some sort of silky looking green fabric that somehow managed to look both elegant and warm.

Ben’s brain was scrambling for words as he stared into her hazel eyes once more

“Um… y-you look… Stunniful”

The long, awkward silence following his statement let Ben and the young lady clearly hear the sound of what was probably a facepalm and some muttered cursing, from the trial room next to her. Even as she tried biting down the grin that was forming on her lips, her shoulders shook with the effort of holding back her mirth and Ben could do not a lot more than stop himself from facepalming too.

But the situation needed to be salvaged quickly and without a second thought, Ben Organa-Solo did something he’d sworn to himself he would never do… thought ‘What would Han Solo do?’ and the words had tumbled from his lips automatically

“Sorry… I meant to say you look stunning. That dress looks beautiful on you… but I guess that would be true for any dress you tried on”

This time, Ben knew he’d said the right thing because it caused the most beautiful blush to bloom on her cheeks, the shy smile dialed up to one that blinded. The young lady stepped toward him, bringing her within touching distance once more.

“T-Thank you… that is very sweet of you. I’m sorry… I don’t even know who I’m thanking”

“I’m Ben… Ben Solo”

“It is very nice to meet you Ben… I’m Rey. Solo? That’s an unusual name… are you by chance related to-”

Before Rey could continue her question, another young woman, short with black hair in a pageboy cut, barreled into the trial area, her arms full of purses and shoes

“Look what I found Rey-Rey! I think this silver pair… Oh. Excuse me…”

Her voice petered out as she came face to chest with the giant of a man standing next to her friend. Looking between the two, Rose could see both of them blushing, their eyes glancing at each other frequently… and being the romantic she was, she added two and two and got to forty-two.

There was even more blushing and awkwardness as Rey quickly explained how she’d come to meet Ben when she’d asked him to zip her into the dress thinking he was Rose. Rose refrained from teasing the pair too much but had her bit of fun too, making the tall and endearingly awkward man blush to the roots of his luscious dark hair.

It was this scene that Leia Organa-Solo walked into when she calmly swept aside the curtain from her own trial room next to Rey’s. A glance back at the tiny room told Ben that she’d definitely not tried on any of the armload of clothes she’d had him cart into the space almost twenty minutes earlier. Suspicion rising, Ben’s eyes swept between the two young women who were currently gaping at his mother and the slightly pained and strangely smug expression on said mother’s face. Things started to click into place

“S-Senator Solo! We didn’t expect to see you here…”

Rose and Rey stumbled over their words, trying and not succeeding in sounding flustered and star struck. Well, that at least answered the question of who had set this whole thing up. Ben’s gaze narrowed on his mother, trying to communicate with his eyes alone that she would hear from him, at length, about exactly what he thought of her manipulations. But Senator Organa-Solo hadn’t become the woman she was by quailing under judgmental gazes from anyone, let alone those of her only child.

“Hello dears… How’re you both today? Rey, I must say my son was correct… that dress looks stunning on you.”

Having reduced Rey and her son to a couple of blushing messes, Leia turned a shrewd eye to Rose

“And Ms. Tico… I trust you and Armitage are going to attend the gala as well?”

“Uh yeah Mrs.- I mean Senator… I mean… Yes. Armie and I will definitely be attending the gala next week. I must say Senator Organa-Solo, it has been an honor and a privilege working on your campaign”

“Call me Leia dear… I think my campaign outreach manager and PR Representative should at least call me by my name. And I’m only Senator Organa-Solo when I’m working. For now, I’m just Leia, wife to Han Solo and mother to this definitively single and slightly awkward but nice young man here.”

“MOM! Please… cut it out!”

Ben’s face was turning a truly impressive shade of red… he could feel the heat radiating from his own face and settled for glaring down at his parent, making sure he did not look in Rey or Rose’s direction. He definitely didn’t need the image of their pitying looks burned into his brain.

But he’d made the fatal misjudgment of underestimating the force of nature that was his mother.

“What? I’m making conversation with my darling son and two nice, pretty young women I know, about an event we are all going to. Is that illegal now?”

Before anyone could attempt to answer what was clearly a rhetorical question, Leia barreled on, turning her focus on to her hapless outreach manager now.

“Speaking of the gala, Rey… are you bringing anyone special?”

Now this… was above and beyond the bounds of decency and Ben would’ve loved to object loudly to this line of questioning… had he not wanted to know the answer to that very question. So he kept quiet and occupied himself with staring at his shoes, his hands in his pockets to disguise how anxious he truly was.

There was again, an impressive amount of blushing and stammering from Rey, her eyes catching Ben’s for a second before she shook her head no.

“N-No Senator O… No Leia. I will be working at the gala and felt I won’t be able to give enough attention to a date. And no one I’d met till now interested me that much”

With another quick glance at Ben that no one in the group missed, she continued haltingly

“I am not seeing anyone, haven’t been since I started working for your campaign last year. But now I find I wouldn’t mind some company to the gala fundraiser”

Ben, who’d sort of tuned out after hearing that Rey wasn’t in a relationship or dating anyone, had to turn away to hide his relieved smile and give himself a small pep talk that he did stand a chance if he gathered the courage to ask Rey out.

But by the time he turned back to the ladies, Rey was looking sad and small, Rose was glaring and the worst of the lot, his mother had her ‘I am so disappointed with you’ face on.

Shaking her head in defeat, Leia bid the two young women goodbye before Ben could gather what was happening and was pulling on his arm with surprising strength towards the door of the boutique.

Just as they were on the threshold of the shop, Ben’s phone chimed with the tone he’d set for his office.

“Mom… I have to take this. Please give me a couple of minutes”

Leia, who’d looked increasingly angry with him with every step they’d taken toward the street, gave him a glare and walked away

“I’ll wait in the car you absolute nerfherder!”

Still unsure about what had happened in the span of a few seconds other than knowing that he was clearly missing something significant, Ben quickly answered the call. Just a few minutes later, he was done solving a tiny crisis at work and ready to get to his mother when he found his feet carrying him in the opposite direction.

To his relief, Rose and Rey were still right where they’d been, Rey saying something placating to her friend who still looked mad.

“Um… Rey?”

Both women turned to him as if shot, Rey’s expression a lot more guarded while Rose looked almost protective of her friend now.

“Yes?”

“If you don’t mind… could I speak with you for a second?”

Rey looked searchingly at him for a full half minute before she nodded, still clearly unsure. Ben waited for Rose to give them some privacy but the diminutive friend seemed to be stubbornly cemented to Rey’s side.

“Um… could we talk… alone?”

At that Rey and Rose seemed to have a silent conversation and very reluctantly, Rose moved out into the store, her eyes boring into Ben’s, watching him all the way.

“What did you want to talk about Ben?” Rey’s voice sounded a bit weary, he thought.

“Um… I know this is probably super weird and awkward… you’re totally welcome to say no. But I couldn’t help but overhear you say that you didn’t have a date for the gala. I… Is it because you don’t have someone you wanted to take with you or… you didn’t want a date to the gala at all?”

“Why are you asking Ben? Did your mum tell you to ask me to the gala?”

“What?! No!... I… Could you please tell me?”

“What if I said I don’t want to take anyone with me to the gala? You must’ve also heard me tell your mother that I would be working during the fundraiser” she said in a defensive tone.

“Well then I suppose I would have to ask you if you’re opposed to having a date only at the gala or does it extend to other places and times too?”

“Ben… what is the point of all this?”

Rey now sounded angry and Ben knew he had to cut to the chase. He was also starting to get frustrated with the situation because he didn’t even know what he’d done wrong and here were three women treating him like he’d insulted them to their faces.

“I’m trying to ask you out… and apparently less than successful at it”

Rey’s eyes widened in shock and her only reply was a less than eloquent ‘Oh’

A minute passed and Rey was still staring at him, silent and Ben was this close to cutting and running.

“Look… this was a mistake. I’m sorry for presuming too much… I-I’ll leave and you won’t have to see me again. I’ll tell mom to not discuss this with you okay?”

With that, Ben was ready to boot it out of the shop and out of her life forever, saving whatever bit of dignity might still be left over and nursing what felt like heartbreak in isolation, when a small hand captured his wrist and her voice sounded

“No! Wait!”

It was a testament to just how hopelessly he’s fallen for Rey that he stopped at her touch and her words, like a puppet whose strings had been pulled.

“Wait… wait. I think there’s been a misunderstanding. I-I thought you didn’t want to be my date and that’s why you turned away when I mentioned that I wouldn’t mind if someone wanted to ask me”

“Wait. You said that?! All I heard was that you were not in a relationship or dating someone and I had to turn away because I couldn’t stop smiling at that. I didn’t want you to think that I was a weirdo… being happy that you weren’t with someone already”

Again, there was that maddeningly unreadable ‘Oh’

Rey sounded small and unsure when she spoke

“I thought… we all thought you didn’t want to ask me out and were making it known politely that you weren’t interested… that you didn’t want me. I’m sorry for jumping to conclusions Ben”

Ben couldn’t help it… running his hands through his hair, he paced about the small area in front of Rey, his hands moving about in an agitated fashion as he tried to explain

“I’m the one who should be apologizing Rey. I’ve never been great at emotions and social cues… but I’ve been so gone for you since two seconds after I saw you. I don’t know if I can explain it in a way that you can understand or that doesn’t sound stupidly creepy. But it all comes down to this. Rey… I like you. Very much. And I would love to take you out on a date. Would you like that too?”

Her smile was back and blinding in all its glory as Rey nodded yes enthusiastically, her eyes glistening in the overhead lights.

“Yes. Yes… I would like that too. I would love that.”

* * *

When Ben slid into the drivers’ seat of his car a few minutes later, he was so giddy with happiness that he barely noticed his mother’s frosty demeanor. But Leia Organa-Solo wasn’t one to remain silent and barely seconds after he’d put the car into drive and turned out onto the street, she was voicing her opinion, albeit not with as many words as he’d expected.

“Hmph…”

He glanced at her, his mood much too good to be tempered by Leia’s frostiness

“What’s the matter mama?”

He knew that calling her ‘mama’ would always cool her down and now too, it made Leia reluctantly smile while grumbling at him all the while.

“You… you my giant lug of a son. You’re what’s the matter. How could you do that to that perfectly amazing girl? I’d had so many hopes and dreams… now I’ll never have any grandbabies in this lifetime.”

As with every single person with Skywalker genes, emotional situations brought out the drama in Leia. She waved her hands about, her eyes tearing up on cue, her chin wobbling almost realistically as she tried to guilt-trip her son once more that afternoon.

“You know what Ben?... I should’ve never tried to do this for you. Rey is such a nice girl… so hard-working and talented, and so beautiful! I’m sure she’ll end up with someone who actually deserves her. Not someone like you who can’t appreciate what a gem she is!”

With a sly grin and a sideways glance at her, Ben spoke

“So… you didn’t want me to ask her out on a date?”

“Not anymore. No”

“Well you should make up your mind mom. And be prepared for disappointment because I did ask her out and she did say yes”

And with those words, Benjamin Organa-Solo achieved something he was sure no one else on the planet had ever done… a feat he would treasure for the rest of his life – he’d rendered his mother speechless.

Of course, the silence lasted for all of thirty seconds before Leia broke out into effusions of joy. Ben enjoyed her words outlining her confidence in his good nature and charm… that she’d known he and Rey would get along famously and that they would definitely make the loveliest babies in the future.

He didn’t say anything then… but his mom didn’t need to know that the image of a dark haired hazel eyed little boy holding hands with his chestnut haired little sister, both of them with just the right mix of his and Rey’s features, made him feel very warm inside.

She also didn’t need to know that later that week, the two of them snuck out of the gala when it had started to wind down and ended up at his downtown apartment.

She really didn’t need to know that he’d discovered that the construction of Rey’s dress required her to wear only a tiny little thong underneath… or the fact that her beautiful green dress had spent more time on his bedroom floor than it had on Rey’s lovely body that night.

And she definitely didn’t need to know that when they’d collapsed on his bed, sweaty and tired after multiple rounds of earth-shattering sex and Rey had snuggled into him like she'd been doing it forever, he’d never felt so right and whole and at peace.

Leia Organa-Solo would come to know… one year to the day at the boutique, that Rey... her campaign’s outreach manager and her son’s girlfriend of almost a year, was now going to become her daughter-in-law. And that at least one of the grandbabies she’d wanted, was going to be born in about 8 months time.


End file.
